Griffon Red Ale | McAuslan Brewing

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A drinkable, flavorful red ale that goes down fairly well, but is unfortunately blighted by a tinny flavor that I'm not really digging. Given my love of McAuslan's Oatmeal Stout and Blonde Ale, this was a bit of a let down. Still, I could probably down a pint or two of this. Low ABV would be good for a session.

This beer pours a clear, burnt amber hue, with two fingers of tight foamy ecru head, which settles lazily, eventually rendering some broad swaths of low-lying foggy lace around the glass. It smells of lightly toasted caramel malt, some mild orchard fruitiness, and some grassy, weedy hops. The taste is bready caramel malt, kind of buttery, a bit more bitter grassy hops, and a slight metallic edge. The carbonation is on the soft side, the body medium weight, and fairly smooth. It finishes off-dry, the malt still overriding the lesser hops.

A more or less enjoyable amber ale, a hefty step above the average dreck proffered by the bigger Canadian breweries.

Dusky dark copper with a patched sandy lacing.
Strongly scented of ginger ale, sassafras, and Captain Morgan's, backed with more usual brown ale wafts of toffee and butter pecans.
It enters with a peanut brittle maltiness that fragments into dry shards of buttered toast and hay. Toffeed raisins gathers in the hollow moments of the midsection along with something akin to teriyaki glazed pears. Yeast gathers and builds a lactic, buttery diacetyl, and damp spackling. It exits with a peanut skin astringency and a bitter tree bark.
Extremely light bodied, pasty in feel, and lacking almost wholly in carbonation.
While this has some interesting moments and is certainly in the English realm of Brown Ales, it lacks substancially in malt, and ends up seeming like one cut half-and-half with club soda.

Bottle at the Drake Hotel. Cold but not too cold. Some hop, some body, a tad metallic, but drinkable. Bit of reddish colour. Not the best from this brewery. A bit aggressive carbonation, bitterness is significant but more than balanced by malting.Some sugar.

Griffon Brown Ale: Brown ale, perfectly clear, tan head that does not linger, but good lace. Aroma, clean new mown hay/malt. Sweet, with pronounced taste of raisins and raspberries. Aftertaste is simply Raisin Bran with a healthy dollop of sugar. Not bad, but sweet

I had lots of these through the years. Never actually want to drink this but am often left with it when I purchase McAuslan variety packs. This and the blonde are the beers I give out, I tend to keep the St-Ambroise and Abricots for myself. Let me try and review it.

A- Like cherrywood, a very red brown. Light beige head that varies. May be the glass but I sometimes get a nice island that lasts until the last sip.

T- Slightly sour maple syrup. Light molasses. Finish is pretty bitter but really doesnt last long at all. The watery/seltzery character of this beer is what ruins it for me. It's like they make a good beer and then dilute it with water and forced carbonation.

M- Carbonation is pretty high. Very dry. I'd say the mouthfeel is pretty full especially considering the wateriness.

D- Good. Not that tasty so you don't crave it but it's easy to drink and I consider it a good beer. 6 pack no problem.

If you're broke but feel like drinking some sort of quality, this is it.

A - very deep clear amber, one thumb of tan creamy tan head, pretty good retention, nice lace up the glass
S - sweet caramel, roasty, and bready malts, light floral hop hint
T - sweet molasses and floral hop kick up front, finishing with a mix of spiciness and bready malt
M - medium carbonation with a smooth malty body, slightly dry and tingly
D - i've been a fan of amber's since i started drinking, and this fits the style very well, great feature of malts and grains with just enough hops, once again worth the mixer pack purchase

Pours a fairly dull red, clear, with a one-finger light tan head that dissipates fairly quickly and leaves some lacing. Smell is a tad metallic, with caramel and a bit of chocolate dominating the malt-heavy profile. Taste is sub-par for this brewery. Some faint caramel and nondescript maltiness are obliterated by the sugary sweetness and metallic aftertaste. Mouthfeel is a tad watery, nothing special here, and drinkability is average. A weak offering from a usually inspired brewery.

This tastes like yogurt, molasses, yeast and skunk with some roasted athlete's foot. Yuck. There's an unpleasant bitter aftertaste as well. Nasty.

Too watery; not enough carbonation.

This is really not drinkable. It tastes like ass. I might give this a re-review because I find it hard to believe that people buy this beer and actually drink it. At least it looks okay...maybe it's just meant to pour and look at? This stuff turns over enough in the store though, I can't imagine it being that old.

McAuslan, what's going on? I didn't particularly enjoy Griffon Blonde either. They make such wicked St. Ambroise products, you'd think their cheap line would at least be decent.

Deep amber bordering on brown in colour, thick foamy cream coloured head with good staying power. Good amounts of lacing.

Quite malty to the nose, caramel like aroma. Hops bring a bit of citrus in, but malt is the stronger of the two.

Dry toasty caramel flavour through most of the mouth. A small bite of citrus near the middle. Lingering caramel and grain. Fair balance, as the malt isn't very sweet and doesn't take much hops to equal.

Slightly creamy body with medium to high carbonation. Another quaffer. Nothing sensational, but solid all around.

Bottle: Poured a clear brown ale with a large foamy off-white head with better then average retention. Aroma is comprised of some nice malt. Taste is floral malt with very little bitterness. A good everyday beer but nothing very spectacular or inspiring.